Transition From The No-Current To The Yes-Current

By The Pathwork Guide

Greetings, my dearest friends. God bless every one of you. Blessed be this lecture. Over the years, from time to time we have given you a brief overall view that helped to establish a link between certain lectures, even if some of these lectures were delivered long ago. Such overviews always indicate a new phase on the path, and their timing often coincides either with the end of an old or the beginning of a new working season.

This time I should like to combine the lectures on the inner will and the outer will, on the soul substance in connection with the images, and the one about the yes-current and the no-current. Some of my friends will be immediately affected by these words, others may benefit only later, when further obstructions are overcome. But this does not mean that they cannot catch up. That is always entirely up to them.

Such summaries must appear repetitious at first, but when you experience the truth within your innermost self, then you will realize that the combining of these topics is a new approach -- and it can become a revelation. It must deepen and widen the knowledge you have gained so far. It must make it an integral part of your being, rather than an outer knowledge.

Let us first recapitulate the meaning of the yes-current and the no-current. The yes-current is the expression of the supreme intelligence and the creative universal force. It is the life force, whose aspects we have discussed in a separate lecture. It is all that strives toward union, toward wholeness, toward harmony, toward fulfillment, toward fruition. It is truth and love both in its substance and in its manifestation. It is life-embracing and accepting. Its movements are smooth and harmonious. Anyone adapting himself to the yes-current must be in equally smooth harmony, he must reach perfection and fulfillment on higher levels, and he must extend the range and the experience of a consciousness that is unbroken by untruthful concepts and by contradictory currents.

The no-current affects us in the opposite manner, but not in the sense that it is itself evil, manifest in the scheme of creation as an equal principle to the life force. Rather, it consists of ignorance, of blindness, of distortion, and of the lack of awareness. Since it ignores truth, it must be in fear, and therefore it must spread fear. Hence it is the opposite of love, the oppposite of everything that leads toward union and fulfillment. It is discord and therefore it spreads disharmony and isolation. Those who are enmeshed in it follow a harsh, disharmonious, rocky, shrinking or rejecting soul movement that leads to greater blindness, to error, to half-truths, and that puts the emphasis on aspects of the self and others which, even though perhaps correct in themselves, do not lead out of the no-current.

The yes-current is the root of all. It is the cause. It is the inner source. It provides you with a realistic, comprehensive grasp of things, so that the outer manifestations are seen in proportion.

The no-current does not open a further vista than the periphery, the effect, the outer manifestation. Therefore, it does not lead to truth, to liberation, to harmony. No matter how much truth one believes one sees, disturbance, chaos, and destruction remain.

You cannot find a way out of the hopelessness, of the destruction, of the temporary false satisfaction of no-current manifestations unless you become deeply aware of it. This is the primary and the essential step. And there is certainly nothing negative about discovering the life-defeating, destructive attitudes that your No consists of. Many people believe that a positive attitude toward life means ignoring the negative in oneself. But nothing could be further from the truth. This is a misunderstanding of the process of growth and development. It is impossible to adopt a truthful concept and to replace the old untruthful one unless one clearly understands why the old concept is untruthful. The real impetus to transform oneself can never come unless one sees the destructive nature of a false image and one evaluates its effects both on the self and on others. This alone will make you summon all your resources so as to bring about a change. The vague knowledge of the general principle of this process cannot suffice when you are dealing with a deeply imprinted no-current.

When you discover specifically how you yourself say No to a special desire or to a cherished fulfillment, then you have reached a major transition in your entire development regarding your outlook toward life. After such a discovery, you can never be the same. For the first time you comprehend the fact that you do not have to depend on circumstances outside your control, the fact that you are not a persecuted victim of an unfair or unkind fate, the fact that you do not live in a chaotic world where the law of the jungle seems the most appropriate. Such discoveries must lead away from the false concept of a punishing or rewarding deity up in the sky, and from the equally false idea that there is no order and no superior intelligence in the universe. When you discover that you yourself say No to the very thing you desire most, then you can no longer be insecure and frightened. You can no longer hang on to the misconception that you are unlucky or to the misconception that you are inferior. Suddenly the truth of divine order will come so near that you can grasp it. And this is a wonderful experience, even if at first you may not be able to hold on to it. It means the extension of your grasp and the deepening of your understanding. You are becoming more acutely aware of the fact that all your unhappiness and all your unfulfillment is not the remote effect of a remote cause, remote even in yourself, but the direct effect of a cause that is right in front of your eyes, if only you choose to look at it. This requires the training of becoming aware of your hidden emotional reactions, of subtle, elusive, vaguely felt emotional movements. But once your mind is accustomed to observing these reactions, then such awareness is not far away. The No that you, and you alone, can recognize is as distinct as any object in your outer environment that you wish to grasp, to touch, and to see.

Finding such a No must not be a superficial and glib acknowledgment. Allow yourself to feel its full impact and its significance by first acknowledging that it exists at all. Then ascertain why it exists and on what misconceptions it is based. When this is perceived for the first time, then your hopelessness and your defeatism will make room for genuine hope -- as opposed to hope that is false because it is superimposed over your existing hopelessness -- and for a positive attitude toward life. Then you will see that what has refused to come to you -- and has made you hopeless -- now has a chance to do so because you begin to envision the possibility of a change in yourself, even before you are capable of changing. Then the prospect of change exists in a realistic way. The more this change is envisioned, the more the willingness to change can be cultivated.

Before you gain a clear vision of the specific area of its operation, the no-current will act against the very endeavor first of discovery and then of change. Hence, a strong negative attitude exists -- manifesting in any number of ways -- toward the pathwork itself. Some of my friends have already found that the moment they successfully fought and overcame their resistance against the work at a particular phase, they found a corresponding No toward a general life situation. While on a conscious level an urgent, frantic, hopeless Yes -- which is not the yes-current -- clamors, cries, and trembles, the underlying No defeats all your efforts and makes the entire process truly hopeless.

Many of my friends have experienced that before one comes to the most crucial point of transition often the battle against it is equally crucial. The temptation to blind oneself to the true issue, the temptation to project, and the temptation to displace often blurs the memory of one's past victories and of the proper procedure, which consists of: prayer, meditation, and daily review; of formulating one's confusions, one's unaswered questions, and one's vague uneasy feelings in a concise way and then tackling them as they barricade the way; of asking for help; of cultivating one's inner will to overcome all the barriers toward seeing the truth about oneself; of having the willingness to change; of registering the inner No during these endeavors and of tackling these No's in the only productive way, namely with the intention of wanting to first see and then to understand the truth about the matter. We have discussed all this extensively, but when crisis, doubt, and dissatisfaction exist, then it means that these procedures must have been neglected, and the temptation of the outer direction of displacement, of projection, and of emphasis even on a truth, but an unrelated truth, has been too powerful to resist.

Opening oneself to the truth is a decisive step toward bringing the personality into the yes-current. Change -- such as the transformation of the character structure, as well as that of false imprints or images -- is hardly possible as long as one does not understand why such a change is truly desirable. Therefore, the path can roughly be divided into two major phases: first, enlisting divine help for the recognition of the truth; second, enlisting this same agency for the strength, the stamina, and the ability to change. These two fundamental desires -- which are part of the great yes-current -- must be cultivated in the details of your daily living. In other words, in your daily reactions, in your daily thoughts, and in your daily feelings. This detail work is the most important aspect of the willingness to change. What you concentrate on today is surely not the same as what it was last month or as it will be a month from now, provided your pathwork is dynamic and is not a superficial endeavor.

When we discussed the images, I also mentioned the soul substance. This is the material that registers an individual's outlook on life and one's attitude to life. When this attitude derives from a truthful impression, and therefore a constructive attitude prevails, then the soul substance is molded in such a way that the person's life is meaningful, fulfilling, and happy. Conversely, when the impression in the soul is based on a wrong conclusion, then the respective mold in the soul substance creates unfavorable, destructive situations. In short, a man's fate and a woman's fate is the sum total of their personality. In other words, of what they express and emanate. This, in turn, determines how the soul substance is molded in terms of reality or of unreality. The human consciousness is the sculptor and the soul substance is the material which it molds. The fate of the person is determined by the entire personality. In other words, by all the levels. If a person has a healthy, constructive, realistic, truthful concept in some levels of the personality only, while other levels express the opposite, then such a contradiction affects the soul substance negatively, even if the positive attitude is conscious -- and therefore is stronger -- while the negative one remains hidden. Therefore, it is essential that the hidden areas of the soul substance be uncovered in order to understand, from seeing the imprints, why the desired fulfillment in one's life is still missing.

A number of my friends on the path have recently discovered that in those hidden areas there existed a No which they never could have felt before. On the contrary, they were convinced that they wanted with all their being what remained unfulfilled, or that they certainly did not want an undesirable experience. The mere suggestion that there might be an unconscious contrary striving would have seemed preposterous to them.

Such No's are directly connected with the original image. In other words, with the false concept which molded your main image into your soul substance. It is this basic misconception which makes one reject what one wants most, subtly making him act in such a way that the image inevitably appears to be confirmed. For example, if you are under the basic misconception that you are inadequate, and therefore that you cannot succeed, then this conviction will make you behave in such a way that you will actually act inadequately. What is more, you will fear success because your conviction of not being able to live up to it will make success seem frightening to you. Once you find this particular No and your resultant behavior -- as well as both your obvious and your subtle expressions in this area -- then you will come to understand the fact that you lack success not because you are inadequate, but that you are inadequate because you think you are, and you fear any event that might put this conviction to the test.

Changing from a deeply engraved no-current to a yes-current can occur only when this entire process is profoundly understood and when the subtle shrinking away from a desirable goal is observed and is finally changed into: "I want this goal with all my heart. I have nothing to fear from it." The final step in moving from a no-current to a yes-curent consists of a meditation on why there is nothing to fear, on why the old fear was false, and on why the new accepting attitude to this life experience you desire is entirely safe. This should be done as daily meditation work. In this way you create a new mold in your soul substance. But this time a mold which is flexible, light, and truthful. This new mold will finally erase the old mold, which was rigid and heavy because it was untruthful.

When misconceptions of not deserving happiness are found, then they are often connected with the faulty God image. It is such false ideas that make your wish capacity weak. In other words, if these images do not make it entirely negative and destructive, then they make it neutral. In such a state it is not able to issue forth the strong, clear, unbroken consciousness of wanting and deserving the experience you wish to have. The misconception that striving for personal fulfillment is identical with selfishness and with greed is another obstacle to a healthy yes-current. When such wrong conclusions mingle with personal images, then they are stubborn hurdles which can be eliminated only by a full recognition of all the aspects connected with it and then by formulating a new outlook and a new attitude.

On this path you have learned to review your life in the light of progress already made, and to determine not only in what respect you have outgrown your old obstructions, but also what remains to be accomplished. When you examine still unfulfilled areas of living, finding the underlying no-current, then it is also helpful to compare the areas with the aspects of your life in which you are fulfilled. Then consider the underlying yes-current, the subtle but distinct impression of certainty that this good thing is yours, that it will always be yours, that it does not present a difficulty, and that it does not induce fear that you may lose it. It might be wise to also investigate the areas in which you feel deserving, where you are willing to pay the price, in which you are willing to give, and then to realize that actually your attitude in those healthy areas differs vastly from your feelings and your expectations in your unfulfilled areas. Making such a comparison is a useful endeavor, and it is one which will yield much understanding. Try to distinctly feel the difference between your approach, your emotions, and the subtle expressions in your healthy, fulfilled, happy life situations and in those in which you consistently find a frustrating, unhappy pattern.

It is possible to come out from a no-current into a yes-current, although it is not easy. But you cannot possibly come out of a no-current as long as you cling to the conviction that you have nothing to do with your problem, and therefore you conclude that you are helpless to change your predicament. But when you realize that the final, decisive factor is you -- your own will and your own determination -- then the end of your suffering is near. Say: "I want to come out of it. In order to do so, I want to know specifically what obstructs the way at this moment. I know that my real self -- the constructive universal forces in me -- will help me and will guide me the moment I decide to do something about it. I will be ready to see what comes up." Continue your activities in this direction, and you will see that what previously had seemed impossible will suddenly become feasible. Relaxed meditation, concentration, and a minimum of daily self-observation cannot possibly be dispensed with. They are the tools. Learning to use them in the appropriate way is part of your growing process.

Nothing is either right or wrong in itself. Nothing is either healthy or unhealthy in itself. Nothing is either constructive or destructive in itself. It is the same with feeling, with experiencing, and with expressing the attitude of "I want to" regarding a particular fulfillment. The mere fact of its existence is no guarantee that your wanting it is a yes-current. Apart from the opposite desire existing on an unconscious level, such a Yes may come out of greed and out of fear. In other words, out of wanting it too much. And greed and fear are products of the no-current. If there was no hidden no-current, then there would be no fear that you could not have it, and therefore there would be no doubt that you could have it. You need not be greedy, for if you are in truth and in harmony with the cosmic forces, then your yes-current will function as a natural, easy, and calm flow within you. You can issue the "I want" into your yes-current -- your life force -- with a fullness and with a wholeness which is devoid of anxiety, devoid of doubt, and devoid of greed.

Yes or No -- "I want to" or "I do not want to" -- can be determined as expressions of the yes-current or the no-current only if these wishes are closely observed. In other words, if one listens for any harsh or disturbing emotions contained in them.

Contact with your divine spark, with your real self, is an outcome of this pathwork. Some of my friends are beginning to experience this indescribable event. The safety, the security, the conviction of truth, the harmony, and the rightness of it are worth all the effort of overcoming your resistance. It alone can truly guide you. Not only is it the yes-current, but it inspires you to strengthen your already existing yes-current and to correct all your faulty impressions. It will give you all the insight you need and the strength to change and transform yourself. However, in order to have the divine spark manifest, you must consciously and deliberately contact it. Then you must request it to answer you, and you must request it to show you the way. But often the ego-mind stands in the way. It believes that it alone exists and that it alone determines. It must decide to let the greater brain determine your life. Many of you have experienced that it does respond. Sometimes it responds instantly and sometimes it answers later, but it always responds. Yet this, too, is often forgotten, as are your victories after overcoming your resistance. Let this innermost self, this greater intelligence within you, answer your confusions. Let it guide you to the truth you need to know about yourself. Let it strengthen you to change your false images, your misconceptions. Finally, let it help you to swing from your no-current -- which has an outlook that is deeply hopeless, doubting, destructive, dark, and negative -- into your yes-current, with its promise, which will be inevitably fulfilled.

When you discover the persistence of a subtle but distinct No to a cherished fulfillment -- a fearful cringing from it that you cannot explain and which can be detected only by looking very closely -- then it is of the greatest importance that you not argue it away, that you not be impatient with yourself, that you not deny its existence in the wishful thinking that by doing so it will simply "go away." This never works. Rather, acknowledge it, draw it out further into your consciousness, and then prepare yourself for finding the answer to your barrier. Pose the proper questions. Try to realize that you must not shy away from any effort. But also realize that without divine help the human being is incapable of accomplishing any great goal. What appears like the greatest contradiction to the spiritually and emotionally immature person becomes self-evident truth to the spiritually and emotionlly mature individual. One must be fully self-sufficient in order to come into the full realization that God's help is essential. This help has to be requested by the independent person through an act of will. Immature people refuse to stand on their own feet. They desire a higher authority to be responsible for them. They also lack the humility to recognize that their greatness lies in their divine self. However, the divine self is not up in heaven, but is deep within where it can be summoned and consulted. More and more it will be this divine self that manifests and the little self will integrate into it.

An additional source of help is the method of talking things out. This has proven to be true before in other phases of the work and it is of equal importance in this phase. Talking out what you want, what your obstruction is, the extent of it, and the reason for the no-current that you have observed has a therapeutic value beyond your present comprehension. As you talk to another person, then things will begin to take shape and they will gain a clarity that you missed as long as you merely thought about them, or even wrote them down. In addition, the insight that an uninvolved outsider may point out to you is often impossible to attain by oneself, because one is too deeply involved. In talking out your problem, a pressure is relieved. This sets free or releases valuable energy. As a result, a new perspective is gained. Something begins to change inside even before you consciously know it. Something is set in motion when you a) consciously and deliberately tap your divine self for answers and for guidance, and b) when you talk out the pressure area in you. The effect of these two important activities will be experienced by anyone who follows this advice. Again I emphasize that no one needs to blindly accept my word for it.

Talking out the pressure area often overcomes a no-current. For where the trouble festers in you, there exists a deep shame. Whatever the original image -- with its false premises and its negative emotions -- it causes a deep shame. Regardless of whether one feels frightened or one feels hurt, the impression of being isolated with a guilty, shameful secret that makes you different from others and which requires a pretense can best be exposed as false by breaking through in talking to another person. As one gets started, then the shame begins to vanish, until it shows itself as the illusion it always was. But an illusion which has caused you so much suffering. I should like to point out the difference between talking about the problem -- talking about your feelings and talking about your reactions -- and talking all of them out. The former is often a necessary and good beginning. But when one gets to the latter stage, then one is close to the goal of swinging into the yes-current in this particular area.

Since the wise inner self knows what is needed, then it subtly nudges the outer personality. When close contact with this inner self is not being established on all the levels, then such nudging is often misinterpreted. Then the accumulated pressure of the need to talk things out is put into unproductive channels because the little ego fears, and therefore wants to avoid -- often unconsciously -- uncovering the shame. This means that the no-current is at work. When the pressure to talk is relieved in inappropriate quarters, then one automatically concentrates on matters which are not immediately connected with one's personal area of trouble. This may often have even destructive side effects, apart from hindering the personal growth process. Disharmony is spread unintentionally, often out of good will and with partly correct insights into matters that really have nothing to do with the self. In this spirit, even the most truthful observation will be but a half-truth. But any observation will be acceptable to others if one does not avoid something in oneself. If the pressure from the inner need to talk out one's afflicted area is diverted into other channels, then disorder and stagnation follow. The momentary relief from the mischanneling is like the momentarily pleasurable feeling that comes from giving in to resistance, or like the momentary satisfaction that results from giving in to a destructive impulse.

The relief of truth can become yours the moment you are on the road to overcoming the shame of the deepest inner lesion of your soul. In other words, the afflicted area of your psytche. But this cannot be achieved in a short time. But success will come to you if you tackle it in constant honest self-observation, checking how you stand. Above all, by acknowledging the fact of it without self-deception. Remember to always request the help of your higher self. Then you will know what it means to live without shame, to live without the need to be isolated, to live without the burden of hiding your true self. Do not dissipate your energy by letting yourself be tempted away from it, thus depriving yourself of a necessary spiritual and emotional medication.

Every tight or too firm conviction in connection with your work on the path should be examined. Are you truly open to consider an opposite view as well the one that you currently cling to or firmly believe in? Only then -- when you have a truly open mind -- can you perceive the voice of your higher self. For it may wish to convey to you something different from what you believe to be the truth. Then you will know that your original conviction was right for you. This inner certainty can come only when you are willing and ready to accept something other than your own preferance. In other words, when you have a mind that is open to consider a point of view that is the very opposite from the one you have.

Just as you must deeply want to know the truth about yourself in order to obtain it, so must you deeply want to change in order to change. Is there a hidden No in your desire to change? What is this fear? Why is this fear present in you? The same No that exists to the fulfillment that you wish from the outside also exists regarding your willingness to transform your inner self.

Now I would like to discuss a point which has puzzled some of my friends, although their confusion is not always conscious. At a certain point your pathwork appears to aggravate your negative feelings. I realize that you know some of the answers to this question. The obvious one is that hitherto unconscious material has now become conscious. Therefore, it can no longer work against the interests of the person. This is temporarily bothersome. But there is another factor which is important to understand.

When a young human being starts out in life with his personal images and his misconceptions, then he has concocted remedies against the illusory dread. These are the pseudo solutions connected with the idealized self-image. With these the person hopes to defend himself against what he is most afraid of in life. While one is young, vigorous, and not yet discouraged by the repeated disappointments caused by one's non-working pseudo solutions -- or when successful in spite of them rather than because of them -- then he ascribes his success to their efficiency. The hopelessness, the depression, and the sense of futility are still absent. But if one lives with the burden of error, then one gradually comes to the point of utter discouragement. Each time the pseudo solutions fail to work, then one despairs. But since the entire process of pseudo solutions and what they are supposed to avoid is unconscious, then there is no way of remedying the situation. In fact, one is convinced that one has not worked hard enough to make the pseudo solutions work, or to bring across the false self, the idealized self. Then one may believe that the inadequacy has gone so far that one cannot even successfully pretend. You believe that if only you could get to the point of living these imagined salvations, then all would be well. Therefore, the idea of giving them up seems like a tremendous danger, utterly exposing the person to annihilation, to humiliation, and to shame. Needless to say, all these feelings are unconscious. The no-current is being used in order to avoid the imagined threat.

When the pathwork demolishes both this pretense and the inefficient pseudo solutions -- instead of strengthening them as one unconsciously hopes -- then there is panic. One fights for one's life, and one feels that one is losing ground, rather than gaining it, because now the old ways of coping can no longer be used. The conscious self now sees their preposterousness and therefore they can no longer be employed. But the new concepts are not formed yet. In this interim stage, one finds oneself in a vacuum, which one often unwittingly prolongs by fighting against going forward. Truthful concepts cannot mold life as long as one balances precariously on the point of confusion, of despair, and of the stubborn refusal to open up and to go further. I wish that all of my friends would meditate deeply on this, seeing whether it already applies to them. If not, then it could still come to pass. Are you prepared to meet this phase on your personal Path in the most constructive, in the wisest, and in the most knowing way?

False solutions and false means to cope with life create false strength, false security, false happiness -- or, for that matter, if it seems expedient to the person, false unhappiness, in order either to gain certain results from others or to punish them. The false, superimposed tendencies have to disappear before genuine strength, genuine security, and genuine happiness can be a part of the self. How can a genuine yes-current exist if a part of your personality is expressing false emotions? It is exactly the same with the true and the false God concept. The false God image has to be dissolved before the genuine God concept can take its place and become part of the psyche. But it is unrealistic to expect that when the new way is built, then the old, obsolete attitude simply disappears. The degree of pain at dissolving the false old way and of transforming it into a new attitude depends on the strength of the no-current opposing the process and on the degree to which this no-current can be inactivated by awareness and by observation. In other words, on the measure of appropriate activity and treatment.

For the yes-current to express itself in any area of your life and of your personality, your entire being must be of one piece, a wholeness. In other words, your consciousness cannot be divided, with different levels expressing different goals, different opinions, different concepts, and different emotions. The yes-current cannot manifest by talking yourself into it. Many systems and approaches are often misunderstood and therefore abused. Hence, people are misled into a temporary success, and therefore into an equally temporary hopefulness. But it cannot be real and permanent unless all the levels of your being are filled with one expression; unless there is no area left in you that does not know the truth; unless there is not even a single area in you that nurtures doubts; unless there is no area in you that nurtures fears; unless there is no area in you that fails to express the truth because it does know it. All this, in turn, cannot happen unless some parts of the character structure are transformed -- "reborn," as Jesus said. Such a complete reorentation of the personality cannot be a slipshod affair. It does not come easily. It requires your total involvement and your total investment in the process. It demands the overcoming of fierce, stubborn, easily misleading resistance, and the turning away of temptation. There is no shortcut. It appears easy only when the transformation has already taken place and the psyche is now free from division and from contradiction.

When you reach this state of oneness with your innermost divine self -- this state of being in the flow and in the harmony of your yes-current -- then you have nothing to fear. You stand on firm ground. The fulfillment of any expression of your self can be easily yours.

When you allow yourself to shed all your falseness -- expressing your will to grow -- then you must come to see that the God which you unconsciously fear does not exist. The God Who does exist knows no limitation in squandering happiness that is yours for the asking. In other words, that is free. You do not have to choose -- as you unconsciously believe -- between one form of fulfillment and another. Although you may express the wish for fulfillment in health, the wish for fulfillment in a happy partnership, the wish for fulfillment in a mate relationship, you may feel selfish and greedy if your consciousness also expresses the wish for a fulfilling career. The false God image -- which also exists in those who consciously deny a superior Creator -- makes people miserly with their own fulfillment. But this is not God's way nor is it God's will. It is your way and your will. It is born out of your inner limitations. Once they are shed one by one, then paradise can exist on earth, just as hell can exist on earth -- always according to your inner state of being. Those limitations are the wrong ideas that you have about life, the false ideas that you have about yourself, and the untruthful concepts you harbor about your role in life. When you understand that your selfhood and your self-government are synonymous with following the voice and the will of your divine self -- in other words, that these two concepts are not mutually exclusive and contradictory but interdependent -- then you will comprehend the enormous difference between the real self and the insignificant outer brain. You will understand the vast difference between the tight, anxious, doubtful, greedy false yes-current, and the relaxed, calm yes-current. The yes-current has the knowledge of the inner truth, namely that all the good things in life belong to you. In other words, this knowledge exists only in your real yes-current. Then you will experience the truth of true spiritual awakening: that the tremendous power of the divine is at your disposal. You will also know that without it you cannot accomplish anything. But in order to contact this divine power you have to stand on your own feet and you have to dispense with the false necessity of having another authority responsible for you. Every effect in your life can be traced to your inner causes. But the human being struggles against this great truth more than reason warrants. Man has always sought the reason or the cause for his life circumstances outside of himself.

Many of you have experienced an answer from the Godself in you. In other words, you have experienced some of the manifestations of your yes-current. You have experienced the liberation that results from overcoming a specific resistance, with of all its wonderful recognitions. Do not forget these truths, for recollecting them will make it easier to proceed. Every time you ask for the manifestation of the divine within yourself, it comes. This is regardless of whether it concerns wanting to know the truth about yourself, whether it applies to wanting to resolve a difficult situation, or whether you wish to transform yourself into a more truthful and more productive person. My friends, you should utilize this contact more often. Let it instruct you and let it open up new ways of life for you. It is unlimited wisdom. It is unlimited power. It is infinite love. If you use this great power more specifically and more regularly -- rather than only occasionally, as you do now -- then you will realize that this path brings you to your liberation.

Nothing stands in the way of a full life for you. Nothing stands in the way of a fulfilled life for you. Nothing stands in the way of a rich life for you. These are not empty promises. All the tools you need are given to you. But you, and you alone, must use them. Instead of using these tools in order to change the attitudes in you that cause your unhappiness, you often grumble and you blame the pathwork for not living up to its promises -- as though it ever promised to do the work for you. No approach can ever do that. It can only show you what you must do and how you must change, so that your life can change for the better. But those of you who steadfastly make progress, who fight against the No within them -- in other words, who do the work day in and day out -- will register the growing conviction that you are stepping out of your confinement and out of your darkness into the freedom and the light of truth. Anyone who claims that he has done his best but that he has not succeeded is not in truth. He is suffering from a self-delusion. He may make good efforts in areas of lesser importance, but he refuses to see the truth where it hurts most, and therefore where he still misses liberation.

Are there any questions now?

QUESTION: In connection with this lecture, I found that my no-current is more superficial, while inwardly there is more of a yes-current than I thought. Could you explain this?

ANSWER: Yes, this is true. With you the process is reversed. Your astounding progress in a relatively short time, especially in view of the seriousness of your problems when you entered this path, accounts for this fact. I always try to convey to all my friends that the unconscious is the more potent force, determining the outcome regardless of the conscious will. The latter is of immeasurable importance. But it must be geared to making the unconscious conscious in order to remove all the obstacles and all the divisions within the self.

The reason for this in your case is that by nature you are a more constructive, a more accepting, and a more positive person than you artificially make yourself. Once the artifice is shed, then this truer self will appear. As a result, it will express itself ever more freely. You cling to the artificial negative side almost as a sort of superstition, as though you believed that you can ward off real unhappiness by indulging in a false one. You express it with this attitude: "If I say No, then life will not say No to me. Therefore, it will not treat me too badly."

QUESTION: I feel that I have the no-current inward and outward. Everything is No. Can you help me to understand why?

ANSWER: Yes, and I can also help you to come out of it. This is the reason. You fear that if you do not say No, then a specific inadequacy and a specific shame would have to be tackled. It is neither a real adequacy nor a real shame. But you unconsciously think that it is. The No seems to eliminate the necessity of looking closer. You may not be able to feel this yet. But you will if you proceed with your pathwork. Once you do, then it will become easier to tackle the inner enemy -- your No.

As for immediate advice on how to proceed. Take one of the many little No's that come up in your work in your daily life and enter into your private meditation, all alone, peaceful, and relaxed. Such a meditation might be somewhat like this, but you can use your own words: "Why do I say No to this? I have the power not to say No. Now I say Yes to wanting to find out all my particular No's." Take one at a time. "With all my heart I say Yes to wanting to understand this particular No." At first you will feel a strong negative pull against it. But since you expect it, then you are prepared, and therefore you do not allow it to dissuade you. Then go on by saying: "The truth cannot harm me, although something ignorant in me rebels against the truth. In spite of it, I say Yes to wanting to know the truth. This part of me has no power over the way I direct my will and over the way I direct my endeavors. This No has only brought me misery and destructiveness. I no longer want to allow it to rule me. I want to take the reins of my life into my own hands." Do this daily for a while and open yourself up to what comes, in the spirit of: "For better or for worse I want to find out why this No stops me from all that could bring me happiness. I no longer wish to reject all that is life-giving. I no longer wish to reject all that is outgoing. I no longer wish to reject all that is unifying. I no longer wish to embrace isolation. I no longer wish to embrace hostility."

If you meditate in such a way -- always enlisting the divine forces inside your being -- then you will experience a great transformation. The first time it will be difficult. But if you persevere, then it will become easier and it will yield more results. And I beg of you, choose to remember the many times on this path when you were in a fierce and fearful No. But when you overcame it, then the relief -- the sense of release -- the renewed energy, the increased understanding, the health, the knowledge, and -- above all -- the certainty that what you feared before was entirely groundless was in direct proportion to the fear and the resistance that you had harbored. Make use of the considerable progress you have already made, rather than letting yourself slide into inertia again. Then you will experience the greatest victory and the greatest liberation so far. When you follow this advice, then you will make the transformation from a downward curve -- from the no-current -- to building up, to the yes-curent, to the upward life-giving stream.

My dearest friends, you are all blessed. May these words be more than words. In other words, may they not remain mere theory, but may they becone the tools they are meant to be. Thus you will finally allow yourself to be happy. In short, you will no longer cringe from fulfillment. Be in peace. Be in God.

May 29, 1964